A significant number of social and behavioral scientists concerned with such areas as clinical inference, personality processes, and processes of life-span development have, during the last two decades, engaged in critical self-examination of the kinds of knowledge that are possible in social inquiry. We are planning a conference to evaluate the proposals that have emerged from this process of self-scrutiny. The approaches and methodologies to be examined at the conference should point to ways of developing basic knowledge about a variety of mental-health-relevant domains. The areas of expertise of the presently-invited participants (Campbell, Cicourel, Cronbach, Fiske, Gergen, Meehl, Secord, Shweder) include clinical inference, personality structure and development, the concept of self, the role of early experience in later functioning, and the nature of psychopathology. A major goal of the proposed conference is to analyze and systematize the various kinds of knowledge deemed possible in the social and behavioral sciences and to identify the domain of phenomena or subject matter for which each kind of knowledge is appropriate. The proposals that have emerged highlight the diversity and richness of the phenomena studied by social and behavioral scientists, and the kinds of knowledge that have been proposed span the broad spectrum from positive science to interpretive studies. A major issue for our conferees is how to classify the phenomena of the social and behavioral sciences vis-a-vis the types of knowledge that result from the empirical investigation of those phenomena. Prepared papers and related materials will be circulated in advance so that the meeting can be devoted to discussion of the papers and of recurrent issues. Revised papers will be published in a book, along with additional chapters examining the main themes emerging in those papers and in the discussions, and a bibliography. The products of the conference will help investigators in the social and behavioral sciences to form a clear picture of the domain of phenomena that each is studying and of the kind of knowledge toward which each is striving.